Topics
Alexandria, 
Egypt
7,266,957 people lived in Alexandria in 2025. It is the 48th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 2nd largest in Egypt.
Like every city on this site, Alexandria is counted as a built-up area seen from above rather than as a city government's territory. Why that changes the number.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Alexandria grew
For every 10 people in Alexandria in 1975, there were 27.4 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 9.0 million people in 2050. It passed five million people between 2005 and 2010.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: one column every five years, 1975 to 2050; its height is the number of people. Hatched columns are the UN's projection. The thin strip beneath says how sure the UN is of each figure: the stronger the colour, the surer. A blank means the place was not on the UN's list of cities that year.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Alexandria through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Alexandria in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Egypt · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Alexandria is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Egypt in 2025, 219 in all, led by Cairo, each drawn with an area that matches its people. Countries next door are outlines only.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Alexandria covered 591 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 117 km² of it. That is 16 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 4 by 4 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 3 times its size, and its people are 2.7 times as many.
How to read this: pale is the whole of the city's land; the stronger square inside it is what is actually built on. The three are drawn to the same scale, so a larger square really is more land, and hatching means the year is the UN's projection rather than a count.
Of every 100 people in Egypt
Its share of Egypt
Of every 100 people in Egypt in 2025, 6 lived in Alexandria, which is 7.3 million people.
How to read this: 100 squares, one for every 100th person in Egypt; the coloured squares live in Alexandria. The grey rest live in other cities, in towns or in the countryside.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 44 Ahmedabad India7,632,408
- 45 Hangzhou China7,500,208
- 46 Wuhan China7,363,548
- 47 Tianjin China7,285,342
- 48 Alexandria7,266,957
- 49 Nagoya Japan7,146,160
- 50 Johannesburg South Africa7,077,175
- 51 Chongqing China7,071,073
- 52 Riyadh Saudi Arabia6,916,417
In Egypt, 2025
- 7 Cairo25,566,102
- 48 Alexandria7,266,957
- 104 Luxor4,188,023
- 239 Banha2,088,520
- 285 El Mansura1,712,781
- 356 Al Zaqaziq1,416,734
- 357 Asyut1,406,963
- 442 El Mahalla El Kubra1,156,501
- 461 Suhaj1,123,349
How to read this: names are in order of size, the leading number being each city's rank among all 12,138 in 2025; the bars share a scale within a list. A jump in the ranks means a city under 300,000 people, which is not given a page here.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Alexandria are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1975 to 2025, then projection to 2050. Projected years are drawn hatched, and the UN publishes no range of uncertainty for a city. What a city means here, how the UN measures one, and why that number can differ from the one Alexandria publishes about itself: how the figures here are put together.
Sources: UN WUP 2025 · Natural Earth · flag-icons. Every source, its licence and how to cite it →
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries